At Orbital Paradigm, we design, develop, manufacture, and operate reusable orbital logistics systems. Our spacecraft perform multiple orbital mission profiles and return safely to Earth through hypersonic atmospheric reentry and landing with pinpoint accuracy for rapid refurbishment and reuse.
Role Description
We are looking for a Junior to Mid-Level Embedded Software Engineer to join our embedded software team to support the development, integration, testing, and qualification of embedded software and firmware for our reusable orbital logistics vehicles.
The role focuses on flight software, firmware, real-time operating systems, low-level interfaces, EGSE, and embedded software verification and validation. The engineer will work closely with avionics, GNC, systems, and AIT teams to develop, test, debug, and qualify reliable software for mission-critical spacecraft functions.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop embedded software and firmware for spacecraft avionics and flight systems.
- Implement real-time software using RTOS-based architectures.
- Develop low-level drivers, communication interfaces, and hardware abstraction layers.
- Support integration of embedded software with on-board computers, sensors, actuators, and avionics hardware.
- Implement and test communication protocols and data interfaces between spacecraft subsystems.
- Support software integration, debugging, and validation on target hardware.
- Develop and maintain software test procedures, unit tests, integration tests, and verification reports.
- Support SIL, HIL, EGSE, and system-level test campaigns.
- Contribute to software requirements definition, architecture, design documentation, and interface control documentation.
- Support debugging and root-cause analysis of embedded software, firmware, timing, and hardware-interface issues.
- Work with avionics, GNC, systems, and AIT teams to ensure software meets mission, safety, and reliability requirements.
- Contribute to design reviews, test readiness reviews, and qualification reviews.
Required Qualifications
- 1–5 years of relevant professional experience in aerospace, automotive, or other high-performance industries.
- Degree in Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Practical understanding of embedded software development for real-time or hardware-interfacing systems.
- Experience programming in C/C++.
- Familiarity with RTOS concepts, task scheduling, interrupts, concurrency, timing constraints, and resource management.
- Experience with firmware development, low-level drivers, communication interfaces, or hardware abstraction layers.
- Familiarity with debugging embedded software on target hardware using tools such as debuggers, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, or serial interfaces.
- Understanding of common communication protocols and interfaces such as CAN, UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, RS-422/485, or SpaceWire.
- Experience with spacecraft systems, spacecraft avionics, or embedded software for mission-critical aerospace applications
- Ability to write clear software documentation, test procedures, and verification reports.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work hands-on during integration and testing activities.
- Ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary engineering teams.
- Full proficiency in English, written and spoken.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with aerospace industry standards such as ECSS, NASA, or MIL
- Basic proficiency with one or more programming languages such as Python and MATLAB.
- Experience in a startup or small-company environment with fast design iterations.
- Experience with flight software, firmware, or embedded software for aerospace, robotics, automotive, or other safety-critical systems.
- Experience with RTOS platforms, bare-metal firmware, bootloaders, or board support packages.
- Familiarity with software verification, unit testing, integration testing, SIL, HIL, or automated test frameworks.
- Experience with Git, CI/CD, static analysis, code review workflows, or software configuration management.
- Familiarity with fault detection, isolation, and recovery concepts.
- Experience working with on-board computers, sensors, actuators, avionics interfaces, or EGSE.
- Familiarity with software reliability, deterministic execution, timing analysis, or resource-constrained embedded systems.
- Good proficiency in Spanish
What We Value
- Excellence in technical work, execution, and professional conduct
- Strong ownership mindset, with the ability to drive activities to clear outcomes through accountability, proactivity, and resourcefulness
- Clear, efficient, direct, and constructive communication
- Team-first attitude with low ego and strong cross-functional collaboration
What We Offer
- Location: Madrid, Spain (office-first)
- Flexible hybrid work (2 days/week from home + 2 fully remote weeks/year)
- 30 vacation days (23 flexible, +7 during holidays).
- Salary depending on experience and profile
- Relocation package depending on seniority and profile
- Flexible compensation (meal vouchers, health insurance, public transport)
- Company shares plan